The invention relates to a structure for supporting a trackway of a track following transportation system, particularly, of a magnetic suspension railroad, comprising at least one support, at least one equipment element having an operational surface extending in a line direction, and means for securing the equipment element on the support in a predetermined position relative to the support. The securing means includes a connecting body provided with a first stop surface extending in a direction of the operational surface of the equipment element, and cooperating with a second stop surface formed on the equipment element, and bolts for securing the equipment clement to the connecting body. The invention also relates to a method of manufacturing the supporting structure of the invention.
Trackways in cement or steel version for track following transportation systems comprise generally a plurality of supporting structures extending one behind the other along the track and on which are mounted all equipment elements necessary for operation of the system, in particular for transporting, guiding, driving, braking, etc. of system cars. In a magnetic suspension railroad, for example, each supporting structure includes a bent-resistant support to which equipment elements in a form of lateral guide strips, reaction strips of an elongate stator of a motor or the like are attached. At that, the support is supported by studs anchored in a foundation by any appropriate method. The equipment parts are attached to the support in such a manner that their operational surfaces, upon securing the support on studs, extend along a predetermined track course, i.e. a given line.
To enable vibration-free movement at large speeds to, i.e., 500 km/hr and to prevent knocking of cars on the operational surfaces, the actual coordinates of a single point of the operational surface should deviate from the set coordinates of this point, that is from X-, Y-, and Z-coordinates of the theoretical line, at most by few millimeters. However, manufacturing tolerances of supporting structures in steel or cement version do not permit to achieve such accuracy. Therefore, a supporting structure should be manufactured with a possibility of adjusting the position of an equipment element on the support after the support is secured on the studs (ZEV-Glas. Ann. 105, 1981, No. 7/8, pages 205-215). This made possible to cope with conventional manufacturing tolerances and resulting deviations of actual parameters of the operational surfaces from theoretical ones which deviations are subsequently taken care of by proper adjustments.
The foregoing adjustment requires a lot of time and cannot be effected on a construction site at all possible weather conditions. A solution to this problem is suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,895 that discloses a supporting structure which permits to eliminate the adjusting step. The supporting structure of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,895 is characterized in that the connecting bodies are provided with depressions (blind bores) and thread bores, and the equipment elements are positioned with respect to the support with spacing bushings and then secured to the support by securing bolts which are screwed into the thread bores. At that, the depressions and the thread bores of each supporting structure should be formed in accordance with their locations with respect to the studs and respective line coordinates (set coordinates of operational surfaces, corresponding track portions, etc.) in such a manner that with the use of spacing bushings of the same length, the respective equipment elements have operational surfaces properly positioned irrespective of whether the equipment elements are secured to the supporting structure before or after the installation. This provides an advantage that all operations required for securing the equipment elements on the supporting structure in accordance with the track course, can be carried out at a factory, and comparatively not expensive spacing bushings and securing bolts are required for securing and positioning of the equipment elements.
However, the known supporting structure requires that the equipment elements be mounted on supporting bodies parallel to axes off the depressions and thread bores. This is not always possible or at least presents some difficulties, especially when there is provided an additional redundant and different securing system with form-locking connecting elements that extend transverse to the axes of depressions or thread bores, for preventing falling out of an equipment element upon failure of securing bolts. Further, using off spacing bushings means use off additional mounting elements which increases the costs of manufacturing and installation of the whole trackway. Finally, the known securing system does not make it possible to obtain an optimal dynamic behavior because the equipment elements are secured on the supports with intermediate member and not directly.